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CL&P Awards Grant to Friends of Boulder Knoll
Courant.com

Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) Awards Environmental Grant to Friends of Boulder Knoll- Kimberly Stoner, president of the Friends of Boulder Knoll, Jeffrey Rapoport, secretary, Friends of Boulder Knoll, Friends of Boulder Knoll farmer Brenda Caldwell and State Representative Elizabeth Esty. The Friends of Boulder Knoll will use the grant to make improvements to their community farm on Boulder Road in Cheshire. The addition of a new shade house for outdoor seedling growth and a wooden rack to display educational information are on their agenda. Friends of Boulder Knoll is a nonprofit organization that describes its general mission as “educating community members in the responsible uses of open space.”

Twice a year, CL&P accepts applications for grants to fund environmental initiatives in communities served by the company. CL&P’s Environmental Community Grant Program funds community and grassroots environmental projects often overlooked by large-grant programs. Eligible projects protect or preserve the environment, or teach others the value of doing so. Applications will again be accepted in the spring of 2010.

Looks like we missed this one. Alan Bisbort of Cheshire discusses Boulder Knoll Community Farm in his March 3 article ”The Party’s Over” in the New Haven Advocate.

“Where I live, this effort — no matter how nascent or small — can be seen in the revival of what was once the largest working farm in town. It’s more than a desire to return to New England quaintness. It may be the path to the future. The farm was acquired about 10 years ago as open space, soon after which the environment commission (on which I sat at that time) wrote a management plan for the property that included a farming component. But then it died, paralyzed by town hall’s petty bickering.

Out of frustration, a group of active citizens came together to pitch the idea of a community-supported agriculture (CSA) project on the farm. After much wrangling (and the loss of a season’s planting), they finally got the approval. The first crops are going in this year and shares are being sold even as we speak. It is a small step (two acres will eventually be cultivated), but it is a step, and the whole town is jazzed. As a “subscriber” in the past to a CSA in another town, I was astonished by how much food could be grown on half an acre of carefully tended land.”

Click here to read the full article.

Dear Friends of Boulder Knoll:

You are warmly invited to the annual meeting of the Friends of Boulder Knoll at 7 pm on Thursday, October 22, in the Old Chapel at Elim Park, 140 Cook Hill Road in Cheshire.  We will review and celebrate the past year, elect this coming year’s Board of Directors and officers, and discuss plans for the coming year.

If you are not currently a member of the Friends of Boulder Knoll, we encourage you to join!  The Friends of Boulder Knoll has as its primary mission the education of the local community about responsible uses of open space.  Our current role is to work with the Town of Cheshire on the lease for the farm, to raise funds to help pay for all of the materials needed for farming, to plan programs for education and outdoor experience for a wide variety of audiences, and to work closely with our farmer on the Community Supported Agriculture program.

If you come to the annual meeting, please pay close attention to volunteers and signs directing you where to park.  Elim Park is quite specific about parking.

I hope to see you on October 22!

Sincerely,
Kim Stoner, President, Friends of Boulder Knoll

Hi folks,

Because of the threat of thunderstorms, the Fall ABC Celebration to benefit Friends of Boulder Knoll will be held at Greg Melville’s home at 474 Maple Avenue on Saturday, October 3rd from 10 AM – 6 PM, and  on Sunday, October 4th from 1 PM – 6 PM. Call 439-7003 or 988-1844 for further information.

Art by Bruce Dumas, spring bulbs and Peace Preserves will be available for purchase on both days. Information about Friends of Boulder Knoll, the Boulder Knoll Farm, Energy Solutions and CSA membership will also be available.

The community potluck will be postponed until Sunday, October 4th, and will be held at Boulder Knoll Community Farm (800 Boulder Road in Cheshire) from 12-2 PM. Bread from Wave Hill Farms will be provided.

Hope to see you this weekend!

Want to have your home green-ified? Now you have extra time! The deadline for the Home Energy Solutions program has been extended until October 24!

Visit http://tr.im/fobkgreen for more information.

For a small co-pay of $75.00, CRI will analyze your home, install energy efficiency improvements and offer specific recommendations through the the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF) sponsored program called Home Energy Solutions. Plus, Friends of Boulder Knoll receives a $25 donation for every home inspection performed! It’s a win win win! Be green, save green, raise green!

Check out how to make your home more energy efficient at http://tr.im/fobkgreen !

Friends of Boulder Knoll to Host Fall, “ABC’s Celebration:  Art, Bulbs and Community,” Oct. 3 & 4

Over two days – Sat., October 3rd and Sunday, the 4th – Friends of Boulder Knoll will celebrate its first season of Boulder Knoll Community Farm with a Fall “ABC’s Celebration” – featuring an art show & sale, fall bulbs for purchase and a Community Farm tour. All members of the local community – as well as other towns – are invited to attend the event, which is free. All proceeds from sales at the event will support the Friends of Boulder Knoll, Inc.. The Friends is a community-based, non-profit organization in Cheshire, CT with the mission of educating community members in the responsible uses of open space.

The art show, featuring the works of Meriden artist Bruce Dumas, will be held on Saturday, October 3^rd, 2009 from 10 AM to 6 PM at the Gidding’s Farm, 915 Boulder Road, Cheshire – (adjacent to Boulder Knoll Community Farm) – and on Sunday, October 4^th, 2009 from 1 PM to 6 PM at the home of Greg Melville, 474 Maple Avenue, in Cheshire. In case of rain on Saturday, the art show will be held at the Melville home, 474 Maple Avenue.

Bruce Dumas works with acrylics on canvas and board, representing the landscapes, seascapes, and harbor scenes encountered on his field trips throughout the east coast (www.bruceadumas.com).  Original paintings and fine art prints will be available for purchase.  Thirty percent of the sales of Mr. Dumas’s art will be donated to Friends of Boulder Knoll.

A bulb sale will also be conducted at the same locations and times on Saturday and Sunday with top quality daffodils, tulips and crocuses for fall planting.  A special ‘Boulder Knoll Sunflower’ daffodil mix will be available.  ‘Garden Angels’ can purchase bulbs that will be planted en masse this October at Boulder Knoll Community Farm.  All profits from the bulb sales will also be donated to the Friends of Boulder Knoll.

Tours of the Boulder Knoll Community Farm and gardens will be conducted on Saturday, October 3^rd by shareholders of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group at Boulder Knoll Community Farm, located at 800 Boulder Road in Cheshire. The farm is environmentally-sustainable and pesticide-free, and has provided healthy, local produce and herbs to thirty-five CSA shareholders this summer in its first year of operation. A portion of the crop was also donated weekly to neighborhood food banks. Information about the educational programs that have been conducted this year will be available. The CSA will double in size next year, and questions about what a CSA is, the benefits, costs and responsibilities of shareholders will be answered at the event.

A Community Potluck Luncheon will be held on Saturday, October 3^rd, 2009 from noon to 2 PM in the CSA shed at Boulder Knoll Community Farm.  All are welcome to celebrate our community with a shared meal – if you wish to participate, please bring a recipe and something to eat made with CSA or local produce.

For further information, contact Greg Melville at 203-439-7003 or gwmelville@earthlink.net, or go to www.friendsofboulderknoll.com.

Arts, Bulbs, and Community: A Benefit for Friends of Boulder Knoll

Friends of Boulder Knoll will hold a bulb sale, art show and sale and community garden tour Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Boulder Knoll Community Farm on Boulder Road in Cheshire. A community potluck luncheon is planned from noon to 2 p.m.; bring a recipe and something made from community-supported agriculture or local produce. (Rain location is 474 Maple Ave., Cheshire.)

The art show and sale, featuring the farm and nature paintings of Bruce Dumas and the sale of bulbs, including daffodils, crocuses and tulips, will continue Oct. 4 from 1 to 6 p.m. at 474 Maple Ave. For more details, click here.

Thanks to Nancy Schoeffler  for featuring Friends of Boulder Knoll in her column in Friday’s Hartford Courant!

We have recently established an agreement with a residential energy services company, Competitive Resources Incorporated (CRI), to provide our members and their friends and families with an outstanding opportunity to have the energy efficiency of their homes improved.  Though a special Referral Program, CRI will donate needed funds to our organization for every home that receives this valuable service.

For more information, please visit http://tr.im/fobkgreen

Join us for Art, Bulbs, and Community: A Benefit for Friends of Boulder Knoll on October 3 and 4.

For more information, visit http://tr.im/fobkabc

TAG AND PLANT SALE to benefit Friends of Boulder Knoll, Saturday, August 29th, 8-3, 474 Maple Avenue. Multi-household sale with books, toys, clothes, furniture, household items, sports equipment, etc… all in good or excellent condition. Perennials for fall planting will be available. Rain date Saturday, September 5th.